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One of the American Rounds automated retail machines in action. Huansheng Spring Custom Spiral Carbon Steel Vending Machine Spring
One of the American Rounds automated retail machines in action.
An automated retail machine selling ammunition, previously seen in states like Alabama, Texas and Oklahoma, will soon appear in Colorado.
American Rounds, based in Texas, first started setting up these machines in 2023, with the first one located in Pell City, Ala., at a local grocery store.
The first machine to operate in Colorado will be located in Buena Vista, at a Lagree’s Food Store, expected to be open to the public by the end of July. American Rounds states that leadership within Lagree’s reached out to the company first to inquire about a machine being installed.
American Rounds CEO Grant Magers said that safety is the No. 1 priority regarding these machines. He said that there are safety and theft concerns to storing ammunition on a store shelf, just as there are other problems with purchasing ammo online.
“You don’t even have to click what age you are to get in the site, like you do with alcohol sites, and you can order 1,000 rounds and have it shipped to your house,” Magers said. “They don’t know who you’re selling it to, if they’re of age, anything about them, and that’s been going on now in this country for a long, long time.”
A report from March by Everytown for Gun Safety found that many major online ammunition retailers do not seem to verify customer age, despite law requiring them to.
Colorado does not have laws, beyond those already existing at the federal level, regarding the purchase of ammunition. Federally, customers must be 18 to purchase rifle and shotgun ammunition and 21 to purchase pistol ammunition. Additionally, people convicted of most felonies or domestic violence charges, along with those who have been ruled incompetent by a court or have been admitted to a mental health facility, cannot legally buy ammunition.
With the ammunition retail machines, customers must be over 21, unlike other stores that sell to those above 18. Magers said this adds an extra layer of security to the whole operation.
“When we looked at it, we said, hey, there’s an opportunity here to improve the safety and security of ammunition sales while maintaining the integrity of the Second Amendment,” Magers said.
However, a concern brought up by both Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and Ceasefire Colorado, is the lack of human interaction.
“If you don’t have that kind of check going on, you don’t have any way to know if person possessing the ammunition is legally allowed to possess it,” said David Pucino, legal director and deputy chief counsel for Giffords Law Center. “You don’t have the ability to do some very basic common-sense checks that any human being selling ammunition has both the equal and ethical responsibility to do.”
All of the machines are equipped with double steel walls and weigh up to 2,000 pounds with the ammunition inside. Machines are only installed inside stores, never outside, and are only available during store hours.
Magers said the vending machines would require a valid driver’s license and feature a facial recognition scan.
American Rounds will not store or sell anyone’s ID information or any facial-recognition data, according to Magers.
Only American Rounds staff have keys to the machines; employees who work at the stores where they are located do not have access. Machines are typically restocked every two weeks by the company itself.
According to Magers, these machines carry a lot of the same major brands and calibers found in any big-box retailer. When it comes to pricing, no extra fees are tacked on to account for the convenience. The company tries to keep prices within 5% of any other retailer, having the ability to adjust pricing on any individual machine.
Despite the safety features, American Rounds has thought through, some of the public has raised concerns with the company.
“The real thing that people are worried about is, ‘oh, we’re going to increase the tragedies in this country,’ but it’s the exact opposite,” Magers said. “If you look at shootings in school, particularly, the people committing those tragedies are usually between the ages of 15 and 18. They could not buy from our machines.”
Tom Mauser, board member and spokesperson for Ceasefire Colorado, agrees the age restrictions are a benefit, and wishes laws requiring customers to be over 21 existed everywhere, for all types of ammunition.
However, another concern brought up is how these machines are now “normalizing” firearms as well as reflecting the weak laws that exists for ammunition purchase nationwide.
“What I think it shows and reflects is, on the one hand, we have very weak laws on the sale of ammunition; there’s very little in place. There’s very few mechanisms to stop ammo from going to people who shouldn’t have it,” Pucino said. “The fact that a company is able to come in with this kind of device that makes ammunition even more pervasive and accessible is both a reflection of how weak those laws are and an exploitation of those laws.”
According to data from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, there were 1,634 federally licensed dealers or pawnbrokers of firearms in Colorado as of January 2022.
“That’s more stores than there are Starbucks, McDonald’s, Subways, Wendy’s, Arby’s and Taco Bells combined,” Mauser said. “Why do we need to put (the machines) in grocery stores?”
Looking into the future, American Rounds wants to continue expanding, as they have had requests for these ammunition machines in almost every state in the country. Magers is excited to bring this industry to Colorado, citing the great hunting communities as well as the “patriotic life of law-abiding gun owners in the state.”
“We are 100% supportive of law abiding, legal, responsible gun ownership, and everything we’re doing is structured around making our communities safer and still maintaining the integrity of the Second Amendment,” Magers said.
For more information on American Rounds, visit their website, which lays out every location these machines are at as well as some of their history.
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